You know how sometimes you wake up in the middle of the night and feel completely disoriented? You think, “Where am I? Was that all a dream? I never even had a subscription to Word Up magazine!” Then you roll over and go back to sleep. Well that’s how I felt after the Writers League draft, except instead of going back to sleep, I have a roster to maintain all season.

The back story is that I was in Savannah for a different draft that happened to coincide with the Writer’s league draft. I protested the draft time, but Sky and the others were all like, “Deal with it. There are no IDPs anyway, you don’t stand a chance.” While the IDP thing may be true, I am an equal-opportunity fantasy owner, so I was confident about my chances to make a statement in the Writers League this year. Confident, until I had a little too much fun that day in Savannah. The end of my other draft was blurry to say the least, and when I finally logged into the Writers draft, it was the middle of the 5th round. Luckily I had set my own rankings, knowing an autodraft was likely. Here are the results:

A few things may jump out at you

Arian Foster fell to 8th? Bad back or no bad back, I still consider Foster a top 5 pick until he proves me wrong.

Cruz and Nicks? As I mentioned, the beers from the morning were starting to catch up to me, so for my first actual pick, I doubled up on Giants WRs. I like them both this year, but that’s not my ideal situation.

You know you can carry more than 2 RBs right? This league is very WR-heavy, but I’ll be the first to admit that I went overboard with the pass-catchers and I’m hurting at RB after my top 2.

Here is my logic, position-by-position:

Quarterback

There are 12 teams in this league, and there are 12 QBs that I’m comfortable starting. I waited as long as I could, but I had to make a move once Luck was the last of my Dirty Dozen remaining. Backups didn’t come off the board until the 12th, but I wouldn’t have put it past someone like Murph to snatch Luck if he fell to the 10th.

Runningback

As I said, I’m still a believer in Foster. I also believe that if you draft him, you need to be deep at RB. I obviously went the other way on that one, taking Ridley in the 2nd, then waiting until the 7th and 11th to take my other RBs. Lucky for me, those were Andre Brown and Jonathan Stewart. Curse you Bud Lite! I’ve since picked up the dream team of Tolbert and McGahee, but I can see a trade in my future.

Wide Receiver

This is where I think I dominated the draft. We can start up to 4 receivers and it is a PPR league, so receivers are at a premium. My corps of Cruz, VJax, Nicks, Smith, Tate, Rice and Moore is likely the best in the league. So being the best suited at arguably the most valuable position is a good thing. Desperately needing to trade one of these guys for RB depth is not so good. Maybe the injury gods will repay me for Brown and Stewart by giving Nicks a healthy season…but I’m not holding my breath.

Tight End

I apparently went with the streaming approach, though I don’t remember consciously making this decision. I’m hoping the Trestman hype is legit, and the Black Unicorn becomes a TE1 this year. If not, the Bennett/Pettigrew combo should do well enough for 13th and 14th round picks.

@Pavel: I like that team. There is no need to do anything right now. Stream kickers and team defense all season long. I am not big on the Bears defense in Week 1 because the Bengals are good, but team defense is very odd. Depending upon your league settings, the Bears could allow 31 points and generally play bad defense, but if the defense could also get two interceptions and two sacks, it might not be all that bad for you.

I like that team a lot. Very deep at RB and WR, which is nice. Hopefully for you either Jermichael or Cameron emerges as an every week starter so you can drop the other one. I hate carrying more than one TE or QB, especially in 10 team leagues, so Schaub is definitely droppable. Otherwise, great draft.

@Kevin Kumpf: Thanks for the reply. Would you by any chance drop the aforementioned shaub or one of the TE for one of these: Kenbrell Thompkins, Vincent Brown, Denarious Moore, Gresham, BLackmore, or Alshon Jeffrey?

Cruz & Vareen 100%. Cruz is a TD vulcher, likewise NYG is a pass 1st team. Surprisingly, the Pats run the ball a lot more than people know. With Woodhead gone, AH in Jail & Gronk hurt, I’ve heard that they are going to try to use Vareen as a slot back. Similar to B. Westbrook back in the day. If your in a PPR league Vareen should be even more valuable.

I agree, Cruz and Vereen. I’m not high on Antonio Brown this year. His high rankings are more due to situation than talent, and I think he’ll struggle with facing #1 corners for the first time in his career. Vereen is a matchup play, but in Week 1 that matchup is the Bills. Start him with confidence.

Any team with Gronk on it this year will be made or broken by that Gronk pick. I’m personally a believer, but it is definitely a risk. I like Cameron as insurance though.

I only see 4 WR listed there, but I like the crew you got. There is no need to carry two defenses, so I would drop the Bengals D for another receiver, at least until Gordon returns.

This team has a high ceiling, but with injury risks surrounding Gronk, along with your stable of young RBs, it could also bust. I don’t blame you for going for it all though, should be a fun team to follow.

18 teams is tough my man. The easy choice for me is Rams D, they should pile up the sacks on AZ with a pick or two mixed in. You can drop the Jets D, as even in an 18 teamer, it’s usually not worth carrying 2 defenses, and STL should have a good one this year.

For your flex, Lamichael and Santonio are banged up, and to be honest I had to look up which team Ben Watson was on. So that leaves Shonn vs. Bryce. If you’re in a standard league with 1 point per 10 yards and/or PPR, Bryce is your choice. If it’s not PPR and devalues yardage a bit, making TDs more valuable, then Greene is worth the risk in case he vultures one.

Long term, it might be worth trying to trade Kaepernick for Flex depth if you have faith in Freeman. That’s a tough pill to swallow, but in an 18 team league it might be your best shot. Good luck!